compost pile

[Monica]

Hubby was digging the other day with the loader and dumped a load of dirt in my compost pile. I was furious last night when I seen it and threw a hissy. He says its not going to hurt anything because that's what the compost is, is dirt. I argued because I want nice fluffy compost not nice heavy dirt. Don't you mix the compost with your mulch when you put it around flowers as a fertilizer? He argued that you put it under the mulch because it's nothing but dirt. I argued that it is a fertilizer for the plants not dirt. Should I have gotten so upset? or is he right and am I overreacting?  I think i;m going to go out and shovel that crap out of my compost pile because I don't want it there anyway. I've never heard of anyone throwing loads of dirt in their compost, I know you put the potting soil from your pots in it but not dirt from the yard. I'm just so mad that now I'm rambling.

[Jerry]

My guess is that the soil has plenty of bacteria and though a bit heavier than you like might be fine.
You can mix in more compost and green materials too.  Just like adding more flour to a recipie.

[barb]

Hmmm, well, I agree with you.  The whole point of compost is because it has all those special icky nutrients that our plants love.  It enriches the soil, not the other way around.  Bad hubby.   

[Mikey]

First let me say that I too would be irritated.  To make sure we are talking about the same thing perhaps a brief definition of terms is needed.  This may help hubby too.

Dirt/soil is essentially broken down or disintegrated rock and humus.

Mulch is usually a top dressing to hold in moisture and smother weeds.  It frequently is composed of shredded bark or wood chips.  Mulch may also be composed of compost.  Mulch eventually breaks down into compost.

Compost is typically a mixture of shredded green plant material and brown plant material.  Bacterial action causes it to heat up and break down very quickly.  As it breaks down it becomes nutrient material for a healthy soil. 

That said, I think adding a bunch of dirt to your compost will slow down the breaking down of the plant material.  One adds compost to soil, not the other way around.  I would spread the stuff around where you want it and then start making a new compost pile and lovingly remind your DH TO KEEP HIS FREAKING HANDS OFF YOUR COMPOST!

I haven't visited this site recently but a good discussion of your concerns may be had at the GW's Soil, Compost and Mulch forum located at: http://forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/soil/  Notice that they too break it down into three separate areas....soil, compost and mulch.....

[Rocmon]

I think you could be overreacting. It depends upon the composition of your compost and the quality of the soil that was added to the compost pile.

Humus is an end product of compost.

Mulch can be any material you want to use to contain the moisture in soil. Plastic sheeting can be mulch. Bottle caps, rocks, ground up tires, you name it... it can be mulch.

Organic material decomposed would be compost. Leaves, small twigs, logs, grass, orange peels, horse manure, broccoli, zucchini. Your aiming at a 25:1 carbon to nitrogen ratio. Grass clipping alone won't do it, well. You need dry straw to dilute out wet fruit, etc... when piled up heat is created with the decomposition. Temperatures get pretty high in the center of the pile, helping to break stuff down, and sterilize weed seeds.

Is adding soil to compost bad? What do you do with your compost? Add it to your soil? If he added a large volume of soil then certainly it will dilute out the nutrients but it doesn't "ruin" the compost, the nutrients are still there, just not as concentrated. Would I want soil dumped in my compost? Certainly not. But ideally it is best dug into the top soil...Making all the soil a bit more fluffy.

Don't dig the crap out of your compost, that's the best part of it.

Have hubby go get a truck load or two of horse manure and mix it all together.

[Monica]

He dumped more dirt into the pile than there was other material.  I put kitchen scraps, plants that I have deadheaded, algea from the pond, etc.  then he goes and puts all that dirt on top of it.  Now i have to go out and dig it out. 

Mikey I did tell him to keep his freaking hands out of my compost pile because he aparently doesn't understand what it is for.  Its bad enough that he has thrown weeds in there and I have to go and pull weeds that have germinated out.  I think he needs a course in composting.

[Joyce]

I don't believe in adding dirt to compost.
Compost is compost...composting organic matter.
Quite fertile.

Dirt has sand and rocks in it. Not very fertile. Usually very heavy and compacted.

There is PLENTY of bacteria and such in your kitchen scraps without the need of dirt.
Besides, dirt can have fungus and other undesireables like bugs and grubs.

[Monica]

In the spring he dumped a pile of sand rocks and weeds in it fron our ditch.  I think I'm going to take his tractor away from him so he''ll stop dumping crap in my compost.  Is there a site that gives a detailed description of what compost is supposed to be so that I could show him that compost and dirt are two different things.

[Mikey]

If you go to the link I provided above there is a FAQ.  Click on FAQ and look for a topic near the bottom titled "A Brief Intro Into Composting". 

[Jerry]

Joyce & Mickey are correct, but whats done is done, just build on it.

Tell DH>>>>

[10kpond]

well, regardless of what you call it, compost or dirt, my experiences may be a bit different. i do my composting directly in my garden space in the winter, where i have lots of room to make a trench in case of freezing conditions. In spring-fall i have a dirt compost that composts all our scraps. we are 2 total vegetarians and generate way too much for a traditional paper/leaf/garbage/brown/green turn it regularly compost heap. been there and completely overwhelmed the ability of the heap. i tried barrels, mesh baskets, and tumblers. i love my in-ground garbage disposal, worms galore and lots of beneficial bugs, no smell, and transferrable right into the garden. i will admit mine is relatively heavy, but 5 pounds of all kinds of stuff goes in my compost today, and everything but eggshells is GONE in 8 days.

[Rocmon]

Compost is compost...composting organic matter.
Quite fertile.

Dirt has sand and rocks in it. Not very fertile. Usually very heavy and compacted.

There is PLENTY of bacteria and such in your kitchen scraps without the need of dirt.
Besides, dirt can have fungus and other undesireables like bugs and grubs.

Um how does the organic matter compost if it were not for the bacteria, fungus, bugs and grubs?
I'll include earthworms in the bugs and grubs category... 

Sorry, I took a soils class (not a dirt class) years ago, as part of a horticulture program. Building a compost pile was one of the lab exercises. Maybe things have changed in 20+ years, but back then the fungus helped to break stuff down. When the compost was crawling with critters that was the sign that it was finished and ready for the garden. (Ants mean it needs more water.) Yes I know we've been down this road before over cow turds, and I know we have differing opinions about compost... A pile of wood chips will become great compost given a year or two to break down. The white fungus growing in the pile is beautiful and says it's well on its way to it's being compost, and yes a dose of nitrogen would help speed things up tremendously. Compost provides humates which help hold nutrients, break up soils, etc...   

If you have the room and the material a 4'x4'x4' pile is supposed to be able to generate the heat (in the center) needed to kill the weed seeds. This is where rotation helps get more stuff to the center of the pile. Also an impermeable barrier on the ground will help prevent flies, as the larva go into the soil as part of their life cycle.

Soil may or may not have rocks and sand. Soil is composed of sand, silt, and clay. The differing quantities determine what kind of soil it is.

Anyway, it sounds like you need to inform hubby of the NO TRACTOR ZONE. The compost at this point may be a lost cause, or gold next year... This being fall you should have plenty of new stuff to make a new pile in the NO TRACTOR ZONE

[Monica]

Well I dug out all the dirt yesteday and it took at least 10 wheel barrels full to get all of it out.  I warned him what will happen if he even thinks about it again.  I wasn't happy about shoveling that stuff out.  Some of it was in big chunks and were really heavy and I could hardly pick them up and they didn't even break when I threw them on the ground or hit it with the shovel.  Then I went through some of it (with gloves on of coarse) just so I could get all the chunks and dirt out.
Rocmon it is a non hubby area instead of a non tractor area.  I don't even want him near it  &-)so he doesn't think he's doing me any favors by adding something to it.